Tag: AVATARS

Here's a shocker: when dealing with a virtual instructor, people prefer an avatar that looks and acts like them. A collaborative study between George Washington University and North Carolina State found that participants reacted more positively to virtual instructors who were the same gender and ethnicity as themselves. Oddly, they found that these factors alone did not improve responses. Gender ...

digg_url ='http://www.switched.com/2010/07/29/abstinence-avatar-game-teaches-kids-how-to-avoid-sex-winning/'; Now, this is exactly what we've been yearning for: a video game that teaches us how to be abstinent. With avatars. Because real gamers usually have dates galore, right? Researchers at the University of Central Florida have created just such a game, in the hopes of encouraging kids to ...

We think it goes without saying that Japan loves robots. Japanese pop culture has had a love affair with our metallic friends since the '50s, and slowly but surely science is catching up to their imagination. fuRo, a Japanese robotic research & development firm, has taken their first tentative steps towards realizing a glorious future of wirelessly controlled robotic surrogates. fuRo's ...

It could be argued that one of the biggest hurdles in the way of creating compelling shared online experiences is the fact that digital avatars look nothing like the people controlling them. A Pasadena, CA-based company called Big Stage Entertainment is trying to change that, and its solution is to enable anyone to quickly create a realistic 3-D version of themselves, which can then be used ...

digg_url = 'http://digg.com/xbox/Microsoft_giving_the_Xbox_360_a_totally_new_dashboard_2'; Microsoft just announced at E3 that they'll be giving the Xbox 360 a total software overhaul this fall. "When people turn on their Xbox 360s this fall, they'll get an entirely new interface and Dashboard, an entirely new Xbox through the magic of software," said John Schappert, head of Live services. New ...

If you've ever played a Massively Multiplayer Online game such as 'Everquest' or 'Second Life,' you've probably noticed that just about every male avatar is rippling with muscle and every female -- well -- fills out her chrome armor in all the right places. The people behind the digital representations themselves can't be quite so polished, right? The answer, of course, is yes, and the NY Times ...

The world of virtual living is about to get a whole lot weirder. Electronic Arts, purveyors of such fine electronic fantasy simulators as 'Madden NFL Football,' 'The Sims,' and 'Def Jam: Icon,' has announced an intriguing new partnership with TV-production company Endemol. The plan is to create something called Virtual Me; when the service launches in the coming months, it will let users ...